Ah, the supreme time thief that is reference gathering!* Normally I hate doing this, unless it's for (a) Study Buddy sheets, (b) funky hairstyles or (c) porn. But in this case it's not needless procrastination; I really have no clue what most kitchenware looks like.

*Don't sue me, copyright owners! I'm only using these images to draw from.

Mental notes going forward :-Oven mits are two-tone (colorful on top, pale on bottom) and have words stitched into them, or a picture of a rooster or something lame like that.-Cookbooks have a lot of checkered red and white on them. And many are spiral bound, so you can lie them flat while cooking. Spiral bound, gingham Necronomicookbook...made of stitched human flesh...-Meat cleavers are fucking brutal.-2 headed mallets/tenderizers are also badass.-Pressure cooker valves and meat thermometers rule.-old ovens = creepy -bloody cheese grater!!!-Skewers are nasty looking.-Cake mixers look like they'd be a bitch to draw -- fuuuuuuuck that.-Putting a brick chimney on him in addition to metal pipework could be a nice material breakup.-Dent and ding the metal wherever possible -- rust and globby solder marks galore.-Maybe break down and give him a chef hat?!?-Added : waffle irons! He has waffle irons on his feet. Observation : waffles have FOUR QUADRANTS -I'm thinking he'll have a water tower somewhere on his back...you know, in case the blaze gets out of control. I'd suggest he has charcoal inside him, but I definitely think the fire comes from him. It's magical demon fire!-Spatula City! SPATULA CITY!!!

Since this is a for-fun-project, I'm not sure I can bring myself to do a "proper" modelsheet, where all views are perfectly dead-on and it looks like there's a stick up his ass. Do you really want to be working with the kind of modeler who needs that degree of hand-holding anyway? Weight will be shifted. Masses will be slightly advancing/receding. It just makes for a stronger image, and one I can be excited about actually finishing, vs. something I know is going to look stiff and shitty from the getgo.

I like to give 3D modelers credit as being creative, problem-solving artists, rather than soulless production drones. They'll get that the guy is big and fat without a schematic.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Demon Lord Korpulus stared at his retirement present in sunken disbelief. "What the hell is this?"

"It's a spice rack!" beamed Lady Korpulus, pointing out the custom engraving of her husband's name across the trinket's decorative baseboard. "Because you like spicy food?"

"This isn't what I think it is, is it? Christ, Linda..." Lord Korpulus directed his significantly-less-fiery gaze to the mountain of unopened boxes covering the breakfast nook.

She wanted him to take up cooking.

In an instant his wife's demeanor shifted from 'expectantly gleeful' to that of her usual role. "Well, honey, now that you're officially off duty, I figured you could use a hobby. Honestly, all you do is sit around the lake of fire, staring off into that damned abyss. It's not like the abyss is going to stare back, Harry."

"So..." Korpulus took a deep breath. "Let me see if I've got this straight : I paid for this house, put our children through college, all while serving the Army of Hell for millennia -- with high honors -- and now you want me to serve you?"

"Dinner, yes." said Lady Korpulus, using her fingernail to crack the tape on a combo pack of sauce pans, muffin tins and cookie sheets. "And I've got the most adorable apron for you to wear. It says 'Grillmeister!' Isn't that rich?"

Korpulus examined a painstakingly giftwrapped object that could only be a spatula, and thought to himself, "One of these boxes must contain a set of knives."

Used some subdivision to help with my composition. To further convey bigness I have him running off the page slightly...hope I won't be penalized. A re-cropping might be in order.

Will probably wind up playing with the overlaps in the tenderizer/hammer region. I'm thinking of making the top portion into a little holding cell with screaming people inside, since I'm not sure I'll be able to convey that in his chest-oven.

Next up...ref sheet and turnaround, so I can figure this guy out a little more. Having a beauty shot mapped out a little gives me something to pull toward.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

But before you go running off to one of the major family-style chains or (God forbid) McDonalds, why not see if you can book a reservation at the original Hell's Kitchen? It's the 500 story mecha-lossus with the rotating observation deck on its head.

sketchnotes :

I was originally going to submit the mechanical, soul-driven "Hell's Kitchen" and its demented pilot/chef "Necronomicook" as my Dominance War IV entry, but found this annoying little warning while re-skimming the rules...

"Races and Character Classes: (choose only one. No combinations of any sort are allowed.)

Boo.

Well, anyone who knows me knows what I think of rules. So, as I did last year, I think I'll do my own version of Dominance War, where it's more like Top Chef* and warring factions fight for supremacy in the field of ghoulish gastronomy. That'll show 'em!

...Or I could just do Necronomicook a standalone, organic character, with pots, pans, ovens and chimneys jammed into him where horns should be.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The drawing at the bottom left springboarded from an idea I had for a giant Nazi mecha that's basically a mobile concentration camp. I immediately realized how offensive this was, so now it's a hell-mech with a weary procession of the damned weaving its way into an enormous internal combustion engine. Wonder if they'd let me do this for Dominance War...

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Back at it like a ravenous dog...tried pushing the pose of the far right one -- a nice way to fill the time if you happen to finish up early.

Far left drawing has a little thumbnail of something I picked up from Michael Mentler at The Society of Figurative Arts -- that it's bad to shade in the negative area on the side the light is coming from. Creates two competing patches of dark that flattens out the picture. I'd been carelessly doing this for years, and am glad someone finally corrected me.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Ugh...I'm having an easier time laying down simple, decisive value treatments in my thumbnails (page, midtone, dark), but for whatever reason can't bring myself to press down as hard on the larger drawings. Perhaps it's because I spend more time laying in features and then don't want to risk demolishing them. In any case, today was a successful exercise in planning, but a failure in execution. Next time I'll take a bigger risk.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Looked at the Dante's Inferno promotion and tried to ape a Barlowe concept...forgot the neck labia and eye-mouths! Seriously, Wayne Barlowe is the master of whacked out shit you'd never, ever think of combining. "Sure, put some frog arms on him. And stubble."

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

I'm not exactly a wizard at these...more of a line whore. But people demand color! It's what plants crave!

The small version I up-resed to work on is actually a better design than what I wound up with (even if everything looks cooler in magenta). That's what I get for listening to my officemate Phu and making his cannon smaller! Lesson learned : when it doubt, stick with your thumbnail!

Paintings : easy to start, hard to finish.

Insane props to Robogabo for being so damned good at this kind of stuff.

Here's some pics my BFF/bitter rival Nick Southam took of me at Diverge Workshop in Dallas a couple weeks back. I did a talk on impromptu thumbnailing called "Thumb War" (more details pending). Thanks to Tony and Stephy for hosting, and to everyone who sat through my two hour experiment!

The rig above me is a backwards-facing step ladder with a camera hooked to a projector, plus a lamp. I'm using a coworker's fold-up drafting table.

Paul Richards : actual size

I need to learn to grip the mic more confidently at these things. Looks like I'm holding a stalk of wet asparagus.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

While it came at an unfortunate time in my employer's development cycle, I was nevertheless able to squeeze out a concept : a supercomputer-style general with the personalities of millions of past generals stored in its memory bank; a gestalt entity.